1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed to improvements in typing systems, typing training, keyboard arrangement, disability accommodation, medical and physical therapy for repetitive stress syndrome, multi lingual translation, communication, displaying information on video terminals or monitors, word processing, data entry, encryption substitution, psychokinetic, code as well as many other applications.
Writing improvements generally deal with increased speed, rather than with the preservation. For instance, for thousands of years chiseling has made a more permanent writing as compared to drawing on paper, but, chiseling is so cumbersome, low tech, and expensive, it is now generally reserved for office building entrances, or grave markers. You may disagree when events occurred, but the following highlights improvements that have made writing faster.
3rd millennium BC: Asians chisel pictographs into stone with a writing speed of: 5 WORDS AN HOUR.
2nd Millennium B.C.: Chinese or Egyptians invent HIEROGLYPHICS, written on stone or metal; (10 Commandments written on stone tablets) and with it, the writing speed doubles to: 10 WORDS AN HOUR.
18th Century B.C.: Egyptians discover papyrus, Babylonians use clay, Semites use vellum and these new surfaces allow writing speed to double to: 20 WORDS AN HOUR.
16th century B.C.: Hebrews inspired to use 22 character alphabet, e.g., writing of the Old Testament right to left on scrolls. Consequently, the writing speed doubles to: 40 WORDS AN HOUR.
1st millennium B.C.: Greeks refine their alphabet to 24 letters and change writing from left to right, use vegetable stains, blood and mud for dyes and again the writing speed doubles to: 80 WORDS AN HOUR.
4th century B.C.: Romans develop alphabet of 24 capital letters (Latin), no punctuation or spacing, and pages (early books). With these innovations, the writing speed doubles to: 160 WORDS AN HOUR.
1st millennium A.D.: Europeans invent punctuation, with small letters and as a result, the writing speed doubles to: 5 WORDS A MINUTE.
15th century A.D.: Italians, (including Leonardo Da Vinci with backwards writing), invent ink, quill, and pen and writing speed doubles to: 10 WORDS A MINUTE.
2. Description of Related Art
In 1867, a Milwaukee printer, C. Latham Sholes invents the typewriter and with it the writing speed doubles to: 20 WORDS A MINUTE. See discussion of Syllabic typewriter, Dothan Shelton U.S. Pat. No. 3,970,185 issued in 1976.
In 1867 (later, perhaps that same year) a Milwaukee secretary invents "touch typing," and the writing speed DOUBLES to 40 WORDS A MINUTE and jams mechanical typewriters keys and hammers. (See discussion of QWERTY (FIG. 1) in Combinatorial Keyboards which encode Characters and a space, Richard Holden U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,621 issued in 1987.) High schools and business schools teach what is called the "touch system" of typing. The "touch system" of typing simply means that the typist memorized the keyboard so thoroughly that she can type without looking at it, and that she learns to use all of her fingers, each finger on a particular group of keys. Untrained typists use what is called the "hunt and peck" system. Usually they use only their two forefingers or at most their four best fingers, the forefinger and middle fingers. Actually these typists can learn the keyboard just as well and go just about as fast, but very fast typing is more tiring for them than for the touch typist because the hands have to leap all around the keyboard to reach all the keys with only two or four fingers. See Ill. World Enc.
1872 C. Latham SHOLES designed the "Obsolete" keyboard, also referred to as the "QWERTY" keyboard, to jam fingers, not keys. Today, hundreds of millions of keyboards and people follow QWERTY (FIG. 1) system. See discussion of handicaps of so-called "universal" keyboard below in the discussion of A. Dvorak, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 2,040,248.
The first typewriter keyboard worked with three or four rows of buttons, called "keys". Each key was the size of a thumb nail. All keys can be depressed by the outstretched fingers of the hands of the typist in an arrangement about the width of two hands. All keys were connected to metal rods, which looked like little hammers. When the typist flexed (retracted) a finger, the finger depressed (pushed down) a key. Each of the twenty six alphabet keys were connected to pulleys and springs, which lifted the hammer to strike paper wrapped against a round rubber tube called a "platen." The end of the hammer face had a reverse metal letter or "type face". This type face left an impression on the paper through a piece ribbon (inked cloth). If the typist were quick, two or more hammers could hit at the same time and collide, a process called "jamming". The typist would have to stop work and separate the hammers.
To remedy this jamming, Sholes' keyboard located the most used letters away from the home row, so fingers would reach between keys. The term "home row" is used to indicate the row where the fingers are normally at rest, e.g., "A S D F G H J K L;" for the "QWERTY" or "obsolete" keyboard. In effect, Sholes jammed fingers instead of keys.
For example, normally, the middle finger on the left hand rests on the home row key "D". To reach the "E" key on the "obsolete" keyboard, the finger must travel one half inch forward, press the "E" key, and then travel one half inch back to return to the "D" key. A similar journey must be made to type any keys on the top row (Q W E R T Y U I O P) or on the bottom row (Z X C V B N M) of the obsolete keyboard. But, the letter "E" is used more than "D". Thus, having "E" on the top row causes unnecessary flexing. The same applies to the T-R-I-N keys, which are also used much more than their sister keys G-F-K-J. If typists knew that "J" and "K" are the second and fourth least used letters in English, they would be hopping mad.
In 1909, U.S. Pat. No. 943,466 (Type-Writer Keyboard) issued to S. W. Rowell. Rowell grouped nine of the most often used letters in English (to wit: AEHINORST), accounting for 69% of total letter frequency, together in the center of the Keyboard. Rowell retained the four horizontal row arrangement of the QWERTY (FIG. 1) designed keyboard. However, Rowell relocated all 26 letters of the alphabet from the location of the keys on the QWERTY (FIG. 1) keyboard, that is, none of the letters retained their former positions. Rowell's feature was to put letters in position "to be touched by either or both hands."
In 1920, U.S. Pat. No. 1,336,122 (Keyboard for Typewriters) issued to F. M. M. Banaji. Banaji retained the four horizontal row arrangement of the QWERTY (FIG. 1) keyboard. However, Banaji relocated 18 letters of the alphabet from the location of the keys on the QWERTY (FIG. 1) keyboard and only 8 letters retained their former positions (to wit: BDEKRTYZ). Banaji chose least used keys on the home row of the keyboard (to wit: FKLQX). Banaji's feature was to relieve pressure on the index fingers (by substituting Q and X for G and H).
In 1920, U.S. Pat. No. 1,342,233 issued to C. Wolcott. Wolcott retained 4 horizontal row arrangement of the QWERTY (FIG. 1) keyboard. However, Wolcott relocated 24 letters of the alphabet from the location of the keys on the QWERTY (FIG. 1) keyboard and retained only 2 letters in their former positions (to wit: CP). Wolcott selected least used keys on the home row of the keyboard (to wit: BJQUW). Wolcott's feature is the "approximately even division" of "labor between the right and left hand."
1924 Typewriter Keyboard Arrangement, U.S. Pat. No. 1,506,426 issued to R. E. Hoke. Hoke retains the 4 horizontal row arrangement of QWERTY (FIG. 1). Hoke relocates all 26 letters of the alphabet from the location of the keys on the QWERTY (FIG. 1) keyboard; none of the letters retain their former positions. Hoke places 9 most used keys on the home row (to wit: AEHIONRST) and selects the vowel "U" for the 10th position. Hoke's features are to place most used keys on home rows, and to place Shift key, Back Spacer, and Shift lock in the vertical middle of the keyboard to be operated by the thumb.
1936 Typewriter Keyboard, U.S. Pat. No. 2,040,248 issued to AUGUST DVORAK et al. Dvorak introduced a new keyboard "based on the frequency of usage of the letters in the English language." (Of course, so was Shole's keyboard.) But by the 1930's, the electric typewriter solved the jamming problem of six decades earlier. Dvorak retains the horizontal row arrangement of QWERTY (FIG. 1). Dvorak relocates 23 letters of the 26 letters of the alphabet from their former location on the QWERTY (FIG. 1) keyboard; only 3 letters retain their former positions (to wit: AMZ). Dvorak places 9 most used keys on the home row (to wit: ADEHINOST) and selects the vowel "U" for the 10th position. Dvorak's features are to place most used keys on home rows (or middle bank) for 70% total letter frequency. Dvorak also reduces awkward positions which slow down rhythm and contribute to errors, fatigue, and slowness. He improves typing for digraphs (two letter sequences) and trigraphs (three letter sequences). ADEHINOSTU (Dvorak's Top 10) ("U" for "R". Dvorak's frequency list used the vowel "U for a home key instead of "R".) These ten letters combined have a cumulative percentile frequency in English of 69, in French of 72, in German of 67, in Italian of 69, and in Spanish of 64. The other 16 letters of the alphabet (BCFGJKLMPQRVWXYZ) have a cumulative percentile frequency in English of 31, in French of 28, in German of 33, in Italian of 31, and in Spanish of 36.
It is clear from the above that through the ages there have been a number of ways of transcribing the written word and in this century people have come up with a number of different keyboard arrangements to facilitate the written word. However, many millions of people have learned the "Obsolete" QWERTY (FIG. 1) keyboard. But, would they try a different arrangement? Dvorak changed the location of nearly all of the letters from Sholes's keyboard, and so, most people were not willing to try a totally new keyboard arrangement. Hence, the Dvorak keyboard has been largely ignored.
1937 Keyboard for Typewriters, U.S. Pat. No. 2,080,457 issued to R. Bower, assignor to Burroughs Adding Machine Company. Bower retains the 4 horizontal row arrangement of QWERTY (FIG. 1). Bower relocates 24 letters of the alphabet from their former location on the QWERTY (FIG. 1) keyboard; 2 letters retain their former positions (to wit: SH). Bower places 10 most used keys on the home row (to wit: ADEHINORST), for 71% total letter frequency. Bower's improvements reduce awkward positions, avoid rhythm slow down, reduce errors, fatigue, and increase speed. He improves typing for two and three letter combinations.
1940 Electric typewriters allow speeds to increase to 120 WORDS A MINUTE.
1965 Word Writing Machine Producing closed up printing in response to simultaneous actuation of keys, W. Ayres U.S. Pat. No. 3,225,883. Ayres abandons the QWERTY (FIG. 1) 4 horizontal row system for a 5 row grouping of double alphabets. The keyboard design allows simultaneous fingering instead of sequential fingering as on a typewriter. It is designed for a shorthand, or stenotype system.
1972 Keyboard for Typewriter, U.S. Pat. No. 3,698,532 issued to I. Dodds. Dodds adopts a 4 row angular arrangement of keys. Dodds relocates 24 letters of the alphabet from their former location on the QWERTY (FIG. 1) keyboard; 2 letters retain their former positions (to wit: AM). Dodds places the 9 most used keys on the home row (to wit: ADEHIONST) and selects the vowel "U" for the 10th position. The feature of the angle is to eliminate "cramping of the operator's hands, fingers and arms."
1972 Keyboard Arrangement, U.S. Pat. No. 3,698,533 issued to Illig, assigned to Bell Labs. Illig adopts a 5 row arrangement of keys. Illig relocates 26 letters of the alphabet from their former location on the QWERTY (FIG. 1) keyboard. The vowels are placed on the home row, with remaining letters arranged in order of frequency. The feature is to allow a single hand to operate the board.
1974 English Keyboard Scheme, U.S. Pat. No. 3,847,263 issued to X. X adopts the horizontal arrangement of QWERTY (FIG. 1). X relocates 24 letters of the alphabet from their former location on the QWERTY (FIG. 1) keyboard; 2 letters retain their former positions (to wit: HX). X places 9 most used keys on the home row (to wit: AEHIONRST) and selects the vowel "U" for the 10th position. The X feature is to place the vowels (AEIOU) on the same side, to be typed by one hand, with consonants on the other side of the home row, to be typed by the other hand.
1976 Syllabic Typewriter, U.S. Pat. No. 3,970,185 issued to D. Shelton. Shelton selects a 5 row arrangement and relocates all 26 letters of the alphabet from their former location on QWERTY (FIG. 1). The vowels are placed in the lower center to be operated by the thumbs.
1981 Keyboard Arrangement, U.S. Pat. No. 4,244,659 issued to L. Malt. Malt selects a 5 row arrangement in a curving pattern and relocates all 26 letters of the alphabet from their former location on QWERTY (FIG. 1). The most used keys (to wit: ANISDTHOR) are selected for the home row, and the E key is to be operated by the thumb.
1987 Combinatorial Keyboards Which Encode Characters and a Space, U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,621 issued to R. Holden. Holden selects a 2 row curved grouping of 18 keys. Holden relocates all 26 letters of the alphabet from their former location on QWERTY (FIG. 1). Holden uses principles of musical bassoon playing to allow the operator to select keys. Holden compares the letter frequency of the alphabet in the following languages: English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. The keyboard features minimal formal instruction, adaptability to other languages written in the Latin alphabet, increased speed, and lower error rate. Hoden allows operation by the thenar and hypothenar eminences (heels of the hands).